HONG KONG — A Hong Kong judge granted the pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai bail on Wednesday, but imposed extensive restrictions barring him from using social media, giving interviews or leaving his home, stoking concerns about the deterioration of free speech under a national security law. The police accused him of colluding with foreign forces, including lobbying foreign governments to impose sanctions on Hong Kong, a semiautonomous Chinese territory. Mr. Lai had already been denied bail twice: earlier this month on an unrelated fraud charge, and again a week later on the national security charge. The Hong Kong government applied immediately to appeal that decision but was denied. Even as many in the protest movement celebrated Mr. Lai’s release, they also denounced its terms.

Source: New York Times December 23, 2020 13:07 UTC